Mindanao Holds New Guinness World Record in Most Trees Planted

Davao City — After four months of waiting the good news is out of the box — Mindanao finally grabbed the Guinness world title with most trees planted in one hour.

This was announced on Monday by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region XI.

In a press release, DENR disclosed that Mindanao region was able to plant a total of 2,294,629 million trees on 29 locations all over Mindanao during the massive tree planting event dubbed as “TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW” last September 26, 2014.

Mindanao beat India’s 1,945,535 trees planted in one hour.

DENR in collaboration with Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) had gathered about 40,000 individuals and organizations to join the TreeVolution last year targeting to plant 4.6 million trees in one hour simultaneously at multiple locations.

DENR XI regional executive director Joselin Marcus Fragada said the whole concept of the TreeVolution campaign with a bid to break Guinness world record is to create awareness among the people in Mindanao.

“It is an added value to the government’s National Greening Program (NGP),” he earlier said.

The campaign even earned support from local government units, people’s organizations, schools, and farmers across Mindanao. The final target would cover 9,000 hectares (NGP sites) with 1,000 hectares each in Regions 9, 10, and 12; Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with 2,000 hectares; and Region XI with 4,200.

NGP is one of the priority programs of the government that aims to plant 1.5 billion trees covering the area of 1.5 million hectares for 6 years from 2011 to 2016.

The program is geared to attain food security, poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation and sustainable development.

Davao City Councilor Leonardo Avila, who actively participated in the TreeVolution, lauded the new record for Mindanao. He said he saw the enthusiasm mostly of the participating students during the event.

“The impact of the TreeVolution will be felt by the next generation,” Avila said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM held on Monday. Avila is currently the chairperson of the City Council Committee on Environment.

Fragada expressed his sincerest thanks to DENR Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje for his full support during the conduct of the event and to all those who participated in the said massive tree planting activity.

Commodities used during the tree planting event were Cacao, Coffee, Rubber, timber and Mahogany seedlings. Rubber, Coffee and Cacao are among the high-valued crops identified in the National Greening Program Commodity Roadmap which will help address the government’s goal to attain food security.

Participants mobilized by MinDA and DENR during the TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW event were: Mindanao-wide cooperatives; River Basin Organizations; Local Chief Executive Confederation; Business Chambers; Junior Chamber of Commerce; Academe; Media; Peace and Development Communities; Religious Sectors; Youth Sectors; Women Sectors; People’s Organizations; National Government Agencies; Local Government Units; Mining and Industrial Companies and; Wood Processing Plants among others. (PNA) LAM//LDP